Rabbit or Duck
Recap Ted, Marshall, Lily, and Robin hang out at The Apartment to watch the Super Bowl, where the camera catches Barney holding up a sign in the crowd asking women to call him. It pays off as his phone keeps ringing with women on the other end. He hires Ranjit as his personal driver. Robin also reveals that she accepted an offer from her colleague, Don Frank, to go on a Valentine's Day date with him, while they were on the air. The gang debates whether Robin is attracted to Don using the duck-rabbit theory. Given the success of Ranjit's arranged marriage, Ted decides to let Marshall and Lily pick the perfect bride for him during a double date on Valentine's Day itself. Ted joins Robin on her date at Don's apartment, as Don said there would be a party. Ted leaves when they see Don on the couch naked and realizes there was no party. Robin confronts Don and he admits he is interested in her but didn't know how to say. Meanwhile, Barney's having problems with his pickup phone. When he is about to bed one woman, an even hotter woman calls the phone. This causes him to ditch the woman and have Ranjit drive him back to MacLaren's on three separate occasions. On the fourth incident (involving a hot chick named Natalia), Barney throws the phone in the dumpster so he can concentrate on the woman. As he was about to seal the deal, he could hear the phone ringing in the distance and gets it again at the dumpster. Marshall and Lily later hide the phone inside the piano at The apartment. Ted and Robin, who agreed to clean up the place for the day, finds the phone and Ted answers. Ted goes on the double date with Marshall and Lily, who have fixed him up with Natalia. Despite their compatibility, Ted continues to answer the phone, which results in another encounter at MacLaren's, wearing aviator sunglasses and sitting across from another woman. Seeing Ted on the line, Barney tries to get it from him, but Ted passes it to Marshall and Lily, who drops the phone in a pitcher of beer. Back at the apartment, Ted and Robin lament about their single status, but later agree to clean the bathroom. While preparing for another episode of Come On Get Up, New York, Don apologizes to Robin for his unprofessional behavior and praises her news anchor skills. He also tries to improve his work ethic by getting coffee for Robin. She realized he was wearing pants (which he never does), and the next time she looked up she imagined a duck bill on his face. Continuity *This episode marks the start of Robin's change of feelings towards co-host Don, mentioned by Future Ted in . *Don attempts to do the "Naked Man" on Robin, a move to get laid introduced to the gang by Mitch in , explaining that he read about it on "some guy's blog" . After it backfires, he wonders aloud why he ever thought it would work on Robin, who giggles while agreeing that it wouldn't, referencing her inability to lie without doing so, as it did work Mitch used it on her. **Ironically, in , in which Ted, Lily and Barney tried out the move, Barney was the only one for whom the move failed and, despite this, Barney still wrote about it in his blog, as the Naked Man supposedly works two out of three times. *Marshall allows Ted to use his "lawyered" catchphrase, first used by Marshall in . This is the first time anyone other than Marshall has used the line. *In their last ditch attempt to find Ted a Valentine Date, Lily and Marshall mention several of his former conquests from the show, including Trudy ( , ), Blah Blah ( ) and Natalie ( ). Trudy is revealed to now be married, Blah Blah is committed into Bellevue Hospital Center (most likely their psychiatric ward, given her crazy personality) and Natalie still hates Ted. *2007 Super Bowl XLI was the basis of the episode . *It is revealed in that Robin was upset by Barney holding his number up during the Super Bowl. *Ted claims that Ulee's Gold appears often in crossword "because of all the vowels". He confirms this after meeting , editor of The New York Times crossword puzzle, in . Gallery Rabbit or duck - rabbit.png Rabbit or duck - duck.png Memorable Quotes Notes and Trivia Goofs and Errors *When discussing Natalie as a potential Valentine Date for Ted, Lily says "Ted's her least favourite person in the world". Marshall replies "Well, she's not getting any younger", implying that she's single. However in , Future Ted reveals that within a year of their breakup, she was married, well before the events of this episode. It is possible Lily and Marshall did not know this at this point, or that Natalie's marriage did not last. Allusions and Outside References *Ted references and Don's respective habits of not wearing pants as proof that Don is a "duck." Ironically, it is Don's decision to start wearing pants that makes him a duck to Robin. *Don wonders why is in every crossword puzzle. Ted indirectly replicates that it's because of the vowels in the phrase. This is later confirmed by the editor of the New York Times in . *Natalia, the date Marshall and Lily arrange to Ted, knows all the lines from . Music * - This plays as Barney's ringtone and is heard again during Ted's blind date, however the latter version is slowed down and played on piano. *A fast version of 's " " (from Incidental music to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, op. 61) plays while Marshall and Lily hurry to find Ted a wife on Valentine's Day. *Haroula Rose's EP single Haroula Rose - Someday. This plays while Ted and Robin are sitting on the couch discussing how bad being single is. *Ted spoofs "Here comes the groom"; music is from , from 's opera . Other Notes *Ranjit shouts in while the gang are argueing about rabbits and ducks. Translated into English, he says: "duck can swim, duck can walk, duck can fly, what do you want from an animal?" *When the gang sees Barney in the stadium at the , holding a placard with a phone number on it, it's the same shot as used in the ad for the show during the previous night's airing of the Super Bowl. However, the number displayed during the Super Bowl ad (1-877-987-6401, which played a recording from Barney) was replaced in the episode with a non-functioning number (1-917-555-0197). *International Airdates: Australia: July 1, 2010 on Channel 7; United Kingdom: September 2, 2010 on E4. *While attending the Super Bowl, Barney holds up a sign saying "Hey Ladies, Call Barney Stinson," with the C, B, and S written in big colored letters. is the network that airs How I Met Your Mother and that also broadcasted on February 7, 2010. The poster Barney displayed has two versions. One version, with the number 1-877-987-6401, was shown during the actual Super Bowl telecast. When the number is dialed, a message recorded by Harris in character as Barney is played. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_or_Duck#cite_note-0 The number was changed to 1-917-555-0197 in the version shown in the episode. Guests *Marshall Manesh - Ranjit *Benjamin Koldyke - Don Frank *Bar Paly - Natalia *Lauren Shiohame - Marissa *Arnold Chun - Waiter * - Himself (voice) * - Himself (voice) Reception The episode premiered to 10.11 million viewers. Donna Bowman of rated the episode with a grade A. http://www.avclub.com/articles/rabbit-or-duck,38021/ Brian Zoromski of gave the episode 9 out of 10. http://au.tv.ign.com/articles/106/1067917p1.html Cindy McLennan of rated the episode with a grade C+. http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/how-i-met-your-mother/rabbit-or-duck-a.php?page=9 References External Links * * * Category:Episodes Category:Season 5